5 Questions with Emily Kaplan
1) What was the impetus of your short?
Samantha (the other actor in the film) and I have collaborated many times. One day she asked me to create a character that fit me as an actor, and then spun out a whole story about what happens when her life intersects with a character of Sam's imagination. Then I started thinking about how we could boil that epic down into a moment in time, and turn it into a short.
I don't usually write for myself. I don't want to stuff myself into roles that I'm not right for, or stifle story by tailoring it to what I can play. But in this case it actually made the process really organic, because I knew that what Sam and I were working on was going to be personal (not that I live out of my car or steal people's stuff). I never had to ask myself what the film was about...which is pretty unusual for me.
Having said that, I know that it's a subtle movie...for me, it's about using physical intimacy to avoid the responsibility of human connection.
2) What was the process of developing the aesthetics and visual language of your film?
The film takes place in a small Western town, of which there are many! Sam and I drove about 5 hours east of LA until we hit a spot that felt right and started asking around to see if people would let us shoot for free. Everyone said yes, followed by "why do you want to shoot something here?" (I highly recommend this approach to all indie filmmakers!) I went back about a week before the shoot with Nona (the DP) and scrambled to lock everything in. Of course 90% of our locations changed, but in the end it all worked out.
In terms of shooting style and lighting, both Nona and I had a clear idea of the look and feel based on the script - big sky country mixed with the neon lights of America's strip malls. I knew I wanted a combination of locked off, composed shots to capture the environment (Nona has a great eye for that) alongside tighter tracking shots to communicate POV. The main character is always searching for a hit, so it was important to navigate the world through her eyes.
Also, I love diegetic sound, so I knew that sound design would be important from the beginning and built that into the script.
3) What was your approach in assembling the crew for this short and how did you tackle the challenges of having a successful shoot as a team? (Insert any funny or horror story here).
Assembling the crew was pretty easy because of our amazing producer, Judith Posey. Between her experience shooting near our location (pure coincidence) and craigslist we pulled it off. The most challenging part of the shoot was definitely the bar scene. I spent every night in that bar for a week trying to wrangle actors and I seriously thought no one was going to show up for the shoot. The guys we had came as a favor to the bar owner, and were very skeptical about the whole process. In the script that scene had real dialogue, but eventually it devolved into three words "hi" "hey" "bye." Finally we decided to shoot each word as a series and it took dozens of tries. Funnily that "bye" is actually one of my favorite moments in the film.
4) What’s a film you’ve seen recently (new or old, short or feature) that you really loved and why?
I love many, many films, but I was gutted by Portrait of a Lady on Fire. I think it's a masterpiece. I'm agnostic about genre (although I do love a doomed romance,) so long as there is a strong aesthetic point of view. I am always looking for a visceral experience that communicates as much through visual language and sound as it does through writing and performance. Portrait of a Lady on Fire blew me away on all fronts.
5) What are you working on now?
I'm planning to direct my first feature, The Bliss Factor, in the second half of 2020 (fingers crossed). That film has been a long time in the making, so in the meantime I am very excited to direct a short next month, The Agent.
http://www.emilyfranceskaplan.com/
IG: @emikaplan